It was better not to do, rather than to do badly. The president of the Cité du design was this morning the guest of France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire after the announcement of the postponement of the International Design Biennale of Saint-Étienne, due to the health crisis.
The decision was hard to make, but it was the right thing to do. After the announcement of the postponement of the International Design Biennial of Saint-Étienne because of the health crisis, Marc Chassaubéné, president of the Cité du design and deputy in charge of culture at the town hall of Saint-Étienne, explained this choice to postpone the event by one year.
Impossible to organize the Biennale “by sailing on sight”
“It was a decision that was extremely difficult and that we wanted as late as possible. It was necessary to take it now before incurring too much costs and investments“, confides Marc Chassaubéné, on France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire this Tuesday morning.”
“The International Design Biennale is an event that brings together a large number of people. It’s more than 200,000 visitors and above all, these are very important economic spinoffs for the territory. So, to organize it and invest 4 million euros, so as not to reap the benefits would have been, I think, a mistake on our part. There were two criteria that mainly guided our decision. It is of course public safety, health security and then this return on investment for the territory. Neither of the two conditions were met since we have to date totally opposite indications from the various ministries which do not allow us to move forward. However, you cannot organize an event like the International Design Biennale by navigating in sight..”
An audience from all over the world who could not have made the trip
“The number of actors involved is too large. _40 different countries are represented on the Biennale_. So, we can’t imagine a biennial without its guests, with Africa in particular in the spotlight this year. And today we cannot hope to be able to receive our African friends this summer“, explains Marc Chassaubéné.
“The Biennale means 15,000 overnight stays for hotels in Saint-Etienne, so it’s a colossal activity, and spinoffs estimated at 8 million euros. We felt that it was better to postpone it for a year to allow the territory and the public to benefit from this event.“
According to Marc Chassaubéné, it would also have been complicated to postpone this Biennale for a few months. “The exhibitions have the particularity of calling for loans of works, exchanges that are important or complicated to organize, long to implement. The Biennale is two years of preparation, so postponing for a few months is quite complex. While giving yourself several months to prepare for these exhibitions again is much more reasonable.“
–
